in the market for a new electric shower. old one is about 20m years old and on its way out.

not had a problem with low flow per se (no low flow warning lights on), but the shower wasn’t particularly powerful. Will a new one be better? or do i need to look at low flow heads and large bore hose?

I may fit it myself too. maybe. depends….

any recommendations/comments greatly recieved.

ta

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/recomend-me-an-electric-shower-1

oh.

ta muchly.

With electric showers, the flow is largely dependant on the power of the shower. A more powerful shower will heat the water quicker, so you can have a higher through flow and still get the temp increase you want.
We’ve got a 10.5kw shower & it’s pretty decent. It’s a Triton though, so not sure how long it will last.

Just make sure the wiring is up to the task.

As above, the more powerful the better. Because it can heat the water faster, the flow rate doesn’t need to be slowed so much to do so. You can now get them with built-in pumps too. We fitted a Mira one with pump when we lived at the top of a block of flats (so low water pressure) and had no gas supply for a conventional boiler. It was pretty good.

10.8kw Mira with pump

9kw Mira with pump

interesting.

Turns out the existing shower is a 9kw, wiring routed under the floor from the breaker and tacked to the wall under the stairs, through the wall and into the downstairs bathroom. I think that influences the ampage rating for the cables, but would I be right in saying that if I’ve a 9kW wired up a 10kW shouldn’t be a problem?

what size is the cable

what length is the run

9kw could be over stressing or close to stressing the existing cable. for a year i unknowingly had a 10.5kw running off a 2.5mm cable and it was slowely burning through the cable.

once i corrected it the shower was much warmer – 10.5kw running on the wrong cable will also have poor output – ie it wont feel any better than the previous shower…..

OK, it’s about 13mm across the flat, so probably 6mm2. however it is clipped to the stone inner wall of the cottage, so not enclosed.

Saying that, the more I look at it the more I think I’ll get a plumber in to sort it, most should have the right electrical certfication to be able to run a larger cable to the isolator and beyond!

cheers all.

Sounds like that’s 10mm cable which is what you’ll need I think.